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Flashes of memories - MUGABE MUST GO!!! ZIMBABWEANS NEED THEIR HOME BACK

 
There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year's course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word 'happy' would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness - Carl Jung To be at one with God is to be at peace ... peace is to be found only within, and unless one finds it there he will never find it at all. Peace lies not in the external world. It lies within one's own soul. - Ralph Waldo Trine

Flashes of memories - November 2006

African drums

There is something about being
Out in the African bush
The air is hot and dry and tastes


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November 29th 2006 @ 03:20

Posted By: Ash - Category: No Category
   


love

i loved a man once
i would do anything for him
He used to look at me


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November 28th 2006 @ 15:30

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Lifes Drum

It was dark that night,
I remember joking about the car
That followed us, but it turned off


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November 28th 2006 @ 01:04

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Trial run

We have decided to head out into the bush for a few days this weekend - I am not sure thie is entirely a good idea as it is getting so hot and four of us in a cramped tent is going to be torture. Well this is what I thought was the worst of my worries until last night!
My cousin and his friend are over from South Africa - a land where MEN are bred. They are tough and ready for anything. Well it seems these two are tough and ready for anything...as long as they have an entourage of friends and are in a VERY public place! And they are not the smallest of guys so I was thinking we would be quite safe, heading off into the unknown, pitching our tent in the middle of nowhere and sitting around the campfire under a blanket of sparkling stars.
Last night we decided to take a drive and ended up in a rather remote, wooded area where there was hardly any street lighting or houses. If they did not turn out to be the scared ones! I know they come from South Africa where you just don`t do things like that, but come on! They were locking their doors and every time I looked in the rear view mirror a look of deeper concern was etched on their faces. Me being the person I am then started to look for darker and more overgrown areas to drive through - I thought this was hilarious - these two beefy lads scared silly in the back. Conversation then flowed to the "What if..?" scenarios. What if we run out of petrol? What if a herd of zombies come walking out the woods toward us? What if we get a flat tyre


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November 27th 2006 @ 22:49

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Silence

Silence can be so loud at times,
That deafening thud of your heart in your ears,
Your voice shouting the words you want to speak


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November 24th 2006 @ 14:44

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Does alcohol make you a genius?



Photo found at: medeasmedialists.blueblog.ch/200512
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November 21st 2006 @ 08:36

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Do you understand what you are saying?

It`s amazing how we use words incorrectly in our everyday language. We seem to have a general grasp of it`s meaning and it skyrockets from there. Or we say something and know what we mean, yet someone else will interpret it totally differently (I am not afraid to admit that I suffer from Foot In Mouth Disease and am constantly trying to dig myself out of holes!). Perhaps we even use a word that has more than one meaning in the wrong way. Words are funny little things, especially in the English Language where there are so many ambiguities.
According to www.fun-with-words.com the longest word, containing 45 letters is:
PNEUMONO­ULTRA­MICRO­SCOPIC­SILICO­VOLCANO­CONIOSIS which is a lung disease, although some consider it to be the 1185 letter word


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November 20th 2006 @ 10:57

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Do you have demons in your head?

I take a time out to try my hand a little poetry....

I remember a time when I was a little girl


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November 18th 2006 @ 14:20

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Sunset

It seemed like forever before anyone spoke again. The sun had long gone, the colours getting more and more brilliant before finally giving way to the darkness of the night. By now the third bottle of wine had been uncorked and sipped away and one by one the effects started to take hold of each of them.
“It was in this garden that my son was married. It was hot that day, perfect weather for a wedding. They had an arch of flowers at the back there under which they stood while they took their vows. It was lovely. As the sun set we lit great torches that lined the wall and cast the shadows of our happy crowd around the yard. When they took to the dance floor no one spoke as they watched them dance around gazing into each others eyes. It is rare that I have seen a love so pure as theirs. Now they it in their fancy house in the city, each with their own separate and busy lives and they appear to be strangers now. They have forgotten that love that they used to share.”
Mary took a few more sips of her wine before she responded, “I know that story only too well. When my husband and I first met we couldn`t keep our hands off each other. I would catch him looking at me with a stare so intence it would


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November 18th 2006 @ 14:01

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Clearing up the memories

Silence descended over the group as Jake covered his head with his hands and tears continued to splash down onto the table. The two women consoled him by just letting him get everything out. They sat like this for what seemed like an eternity until Jake had finished crying and his shoulders stopped shaking. He raised his head out of his hands and lifted his bloodshot eyes to look at the women in front of him. It was exactly what he needed and already he felt loads lighter. “I`m sorry to dump all of this on you two but I just don’t know what to do. I know that he mother lied to me on the phone. Mel has nowhere else to go. I just don’t understand how, after everything, she could have done this or what her reasoning was behind it all.”
“Jake there is no need to apologize, anyone would be upset by this. I think you just need to take a few days to calm down and then head up there to Mel`s mothers house and see if you can talk any sense into her. She can`t just take away your son without so much as an explanation.” Maddy rubbed his arm, “Come on now, why don’t you head upstairs for a shower and get freshened up. There are some clothes in the cupboard I can get out for you that I`m sure will fit and you will be right as rain.” She stood up and started to walk toward the hallway and Jake stood to follow her.
“Yes I think I will feel better after a shower and a change of clothes. I think I`m still a bit drunk from last night actually!” he tried to manage to a smile as he stood and followed Maddy through to the hallway, leaving Mary again alone in silence. The day outside was only getting better. The clouds were completely gone and the sky was a brilliant blue. How was she going to stay away from home for much longer. It was not fair on her husband for her to not ring him and let him know that she was all right. Already he would be climbing the walls after she did not come home last night. What had happened to bring them to this point? She remembered when they first got married and how happy they were. The kids had come and gone and even then they carried on a blissfully happy life. Perhaps when he had retired he had started to feel a little inadequate and she had not given him any time to settle in to his new life without expecting too much from him. Still she could not face going home today. Even though she did not know these two she felt really comfortable around them and was happy to stay in this little world for just a bit longer. She could hear the other two upstairs as she finished the last few sips of her tea. She took her cup up to the sink and stared again out at the garden. There was something about it that put her immediately at ease and made her feel so at home. In fact being in the house was strangely comfortable to her, she could not put her finger on it


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November 17th 2006 @ 11:12

Posted By: Ash - Category: No Category
   


The morning after

A small click lit up the light on the side of the kettle and immediately the water started to heat up. Maddy took some cups from the cupboard and placed them on the counter as Mary took a seat at the small kitchen table. Soon the steaming water was pouring over the teabags and they were sipping the hot brew. “Ah that feels so much better.” Mary blew gently over her cup sending the steam scurrying into the air. “What do you think happened with Jake yesterday? He is always such a happy boy, but last night his eyes looked so sad. He had dark circles under his eyes when I saw him in the café.”
“I`m not sure I bumped into him in the road and he was hurrying off somewhere. He nearly knocked me clean off my feet. He needed to get somewhere urgently, but when he saw me he just hugged me and started to cry. He never really said what it was exactly that was wrong. I take it something happened at home because I saw him at the bus stop after work and he looked fine.” Maddy was almost finished her first cup of tea and got up to turn the kettle on again. Just as she clicked it on the telephone began to ring in the hallway. She walked toward it, trying to hurry but at the same time to tread quietly so as to let Jake carry on sleeping. Mary got up and walked toward the kitchen window, peering through the pane at the garden outside. You could tell that it had once been well looked after, the flowerbeds carefully laid out and marked neatly by small stones, placed perfectly in place. On the dusty verandah were two old wicker chairs and a matching table, now covered with spider webs and dry leaves that had fallen from the overhead trees. Under all the debris that lay in the garden the grass was still green, nourished by the fallen plant bits and its thirst sated by the pouring rain. Dead, thin branches criss-crossed across the yard and drew abstract pictures. She was interrupted by Maddy’s voice breaking into her thoughts. “That was work. They wanted to know where I was. I told them that you two had stayed here last night because of the storm and we had all had a pretty late night so wouldn’t be in today. John seemed fine with it.” As she spoke Jake shuffled into the room. His hair stood on end from where he had slept the night before and he rubbed the side of his neck which obviously ached after being in such an awkward position for so long.
“Ladies.” He nodded to each of them as he came and sat down at the table. “I don’t even remember falling asleep last night


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November 16th 2006 @ 12:26

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Hangover blues

Two bottles of red were chosen and quickly opened and all three sat down in the lounge to sip away. “If I had realized how good this stuff was I wouldn’t have kept it for so long.” Maddy exclaimed, polishing off the last drops of her second glass and quickly refilling it. “When my husband started collecting all of these bottles I wondered what on earth he was up to. Every month a new bottle would arrive in it’s little wooden crate and he would sit for ages re-reading the lable and looking on the map to see where it had come from. Then he would pack it away into the cupboard and forget about it until the next bottle came. I never understood it. He did have his quirky ways, that`s what I loved about him.
“When did he pass away?” Jake asked as he refilled his glass and tipped the last of the bottle into Mary’s.
“It`s been two years now. It seems like forever. The house is so cold and lonely without him being around. We used to sit out the back during the summer and he would go over the garden, watering the flowers and pulling every weed in sight. Now it`s like a jungle out there. I just can`t stand to even set foot out the back. My son used to come over and mow the lawn and tend to the beds, but now he doesn`t come around much since his job promotion


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November 13th 2006 @ 11:11

Posted By: Ash - Category: No Category
   


Heading off

“Excuse me? Um…excuse me?” Jake and Maddy turned at the same time to look at the young girl who stood behind the counter. “I`m sorry but you will have to leave soon as we are closing.” The day had been swallowed by the night without any of them even noticing. Dregs of cold coffee sat in the bottoms of the cups in front of them. Cars drove past outside splashing the puddles onto the pavement and scattering the pictures of light painted along the top by the buzzing neon shop lights.
“Sorry dear I guess we all got lost in our thoughts there.” Maddy picked up her bag and started to rise from the chair.
“Yes sorry we will be off.” Jake pushed his chair back as he managed a small grin in the direction of the girl


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November 9th 2006 @ 09:06

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Coffee in a coffee place

He had a wild look in his eyes and she could see he had been crying from the red circles that lined his lids. “Sorry” he mumbled as walked past. Even in his time of despair he still had the decency to apologize.
“Jake?” she called after him. He took a few more steps before stopping and turning around to look at her. “Jake, are you ok?”
“Maddy… sorry Maddy I hardly recognized you. I didn’t mean to knock you over there I`m just in a rush.” She could see the pain in his eyes and her heart went out to him. In that split second all her pain left her as she reached out to him. He walked toward her and his eyes stared into hers. It was almost like he was relieved to see her. She could not imagine why. They hardly knew each other


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November 9th 2006 @ 08:16

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A chance meeting

The rain was still coming down as Jake came and stood just in front of her in the shelter to wait for his bus. Often she would look at him and wonder what a young man like him was doing at a job like this. He would stare intently at the conveyor as everything came past and the way that he gently put the lenses in their cases showed that he cared about the work. She reasoned that any young person who was able to do this showed a fine character. It was not often that she would bestow such thoughts on anyone so young these days. The good old-fashioned gentleman was a thing of the past and there certainly were no ladies about. Instead hot-headed men prancing around with their pants almost around their ankles and girls who should not have even bothered to wear clothes strutted their stuff. It was sad to watch the decline in the younger generation and rather worrying thinking about where the world was headed with this as the future. But Jake? No he was different somehow. He had hardly ever spoken to anyone, but he was always polite and respectful toward his fellow work mates. She stood close enough to him to hear the gentle sounds coming from his headphones through the chatter of voices around them She smiled as the jazzy notes found her ears.
Soon a bus pulled up and whisked him away and she was left standing next to a boy who sported a green hair-do and piercings in more places that she could count. Quickly her thoughts on the disturbing future of her home returned as she was faced with this sight. Every time a car drove past it splashed little drops of cool water onto her stockings and shoes. She stared down at the patterns they made. It was amazing how differently she looked at the world as she got older. There were so many things that she overlooked when she was younger – too busy to take any notice of the world around her.
The rickety sounds of the approaching bus interrupted her thoughts and soon she was watching the scenery change around her on the way home. It was this part of the day that was the worst – going home to the empty house with no one to talk to and just the TV for company. They slowed to go around the corner and as they did so Maddy noticed the boy with the green hair was sitting a few seats ahead of her. She could hear his music from where she sat and it was a constant thump-thump-thump – it was a wonder how he was not deaf! The bus shuddered to a halt as she reached her stop and slowly made the trip up the front path to the green door that was home. The key clicked in the lock and the door swung open, showing the dark hallway that led inside the house. It was cold, the rain having cooled the house down during the day with no sunlight to warm its walls


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November 8th 2006 @ 14:02

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Shocking news

The door swung open and he pranced inside. He could no longer contain his smile. His baby boy had come home only two nights earlier and every hour that he spent away from him was like torture. His girlfriend was not happy when she found out she was pregnant but the idea had seemed to grow on her over the passing months and when she held their son for the first time she had cried tears of joy. Yesterday was their first day home as a new family and she had seemed a little quiet, but Jake understood she must be exhausted after her ordeal. He hated the idea of leaving the two of them, but he knew he could not afford any time away from work.
The apartment looked dark at first, but as he walked down the tiny hallway he saw a sliver of light coming from under the lounge door. His brown coat was soon swinging from the hook behind the door and keys left on the table, ignoring the white envelope that lay propped up against the vase. The door swung open to the lounge, which was empty. Jake looked around the room before heading back down the hallway into the tiny kitchen. It was in darkness and a flick of the switch showed it was empty too. His heart began to beat a little faster as fear started to take hold. “Mel?”. No answer. Frantically he pushed open the bedroom door to see the cupboards ajar and clothes strewn across the bed. His heart beat rapidly in his chest as he stood and stared at the scene in front of him. Slowly everything began to sink in. She had done it. She had gone and taken away his beautiful baby. He walked back out into the dark hallway and switched on the light where he caught sight of the white envelope. His fingers shook as he tore the paper open, the gum still wet and sticky. A single sheet of white paper was all that was inside and on it scrawled,

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November 8th 2006 @ 12:10

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Home time

They arrived at their little house and came to a stop under the leafy awning. Mary unclipped her seatbelt and stepped from the car into the cold and wet evening. She walked over to front door and stood watching as her husband strode over and reached to put the key into the lock. His eyes never searched for hers once and he never touched her as he walked past. The latch clicked and the door swung open. Inside there were no lights on and the small hallway was dimly lit from the last remaining rays of sun that managed to break through the cloud cover. He shuffled inside, stooping down to pick up the mail that was on the floor. Every day he would leave his keys in the lock and Mary would have to wrench them free and shut the door behind her as she followed the shadow in front of her through to the kitchen. Everything seemed mechanical. They knew their role and played them well. As she turned on the kettle she watched as the rain spat down on the pane outside. It seemed different here, looking out of these windows. Of course the picture was different but it also felt different. There was no warmth in the grey glow of the clouds and no radiance from the few rays that shone down. Steam blew up from the kettle spout, clouding up the window and making the scene outside look dreamlike.


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November 2nd 2006 @ 13:31

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Home time

It was nearly time for the day to end. The clock ticked closer to 5pm and the arms worked slower with each sweep of the conveyer. The rain outside was not getting any slower and continued to trickle down the windows leaving little dotted patterns. The hand ticked over to announce it was time to go home. The conveyer came to a halt and they all got up, stretching as they gathered their belongings and headed for the door. The wind that gushed in was fresh and cool after being in the stuffy factory all day. Umbrella’s broke open in their huge protective shields sending the drops bouncing off in all directions. People raced across the tarred road, side stepping the puddles and trying to huddle under the shelter near the bus stop.
Mary`s husband waited patiently in their beaten up mini across from the factory door. She bounded along as fast as she could and as she neared the car, the door sprung open from the inside so she could jump in as quick as possible. She leaned over to give her partner a kiss on the lips and whispered a quiet hello. As she reached over to get her seat belt she caught sight of Jake standing under the bus shelter. He had his earphones planted firmly in each ear and had thrust his hands deep into the pockets of his brown jacket as he tried to get out of the rain. As she breathed against the window he disappeared behind a cloud of fog that appeared on the rain dotted glass. The seat belt clicked into place and the roar of the car started jolted her back to reality. The fog disappeared and Jake was gone, whisked away by some metal box on wheels that would carry him to home, wherever that was. There was no chatter on the way home. Mary stared at the man sitting next to her as he concentrated on the road ahead and tried not to splash through the pools of water that were gathering on the road side. He was old now, but she could still see the handsome young teen that had stolen her heart all of those years ago. His eyes were still deep blue and his body surprisingly strong, even though weathered from years of hard work out in the open. However, they had become strangers over those years too. The distance had become further and further as the years had ticked over and now there was little talk between them.

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November 2nd 2006 @ 12:27

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The three unlikely friends

His shoulders would hunch over the work bench as he concentrated on grabbing the lenses as they came past him. The fingers that clenched the suction cup were stained yellow from the roll-ups that he smoked. The fingernails were chewed to below the tips of his fingers and were wide and thin. He had strong hands though. You could see that they could cause damage but he was gentle with them.
Even though they had sat next to one another for a little over a year now they hardly ever spoke. In fact no one around here did. They all came in to do their job and that is exactly what they did. Then they would go home and come back the next day to do it all again. There were 12 of them in the factory sitting in front of 2 small conveyor belts. A small radio sat in the corner of the grey room belting out some station that was either too scratchy to hear or so low that you could not hear it anyway. Everyone seemed to come here for an escape though, to get lost in their own thoughts. This was a danger as it allowed them to over analyse their little lives and each day they would return with the idea firmly planted in their heads that they were not capable of anything more.
On the other side of her sat a lady who looked middle aged. This was Maddy. She wore glasses , which was a little ironic seeing as she worked in a lens factory! Everyday she would wear the same dress, just in a different colour material. You could imagine her at the weekend spending hours pouring over some new fabric and spending the nights sitting at her machine squinting under the light as she proudly sewed up her new outfit. She seemed a very proud woman, always looking immaculate and always every hair in place. Her earrings would match her shoes which matched her dress which matched her nail polish. Her make-up was always light and freshly applied every time she got up to go to the toilet


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November 2nd 2006 @ 11:46

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The fingers are flying! Day One!

It was cold today. The clouds outside lay low over the mountains in the background, menacing as they peered over their craggy tops. Rain ran in long streams down the windowpane on the side of the bench where a line of people sat next to a conveyor belt. There was little chatter between them as they hunched over with their work space. There was not a lot that changed here from day to day, but it was a job. Out of the wall splurted the conveyor belt carrying little lens cases and lenses. Their job was to delicately pick up the lenses and drop them into the two separate compartments. It was boring but required some concentration so as not to damage the delicate pieces of plastic.
Mary took a few seconds to glance out the window and stare at the clouds in the distance. They were beautiful to her, wispy streaks coming from the bottoms where the drops fell. The land was rich green and a few brown trees dotted the grass here and there. She would often take these moments to think about nothing. It was just comforting looking outside. She looked down at her hands. They were old now, however you could see their former beauty. Deep purple lines bulged out of the paper thin skin, weaving little roads all over them. Her fingers were still long and slender, but where the bones joined you could see the bumps of arthritis.
The line kept moving in front of her of tiny plastic lenses. She clasped the little sucker on a stick in her hand and carried on with her task of putting them in their little cases. Often she would look as they passed by her on the conveyor belt and then out at the changing scenery and it would remind her of her life. She would get older and frailer, there were days that she would be at home, but all of this carried on without her. Life carried on


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November 2nd 2006 @ 09:44

Posted By: Ash - Category: No Category
   


Bit of a change of pace

Well its a bit of a change of pace now. Seeing as it`s National Novel Writing Month I thought I would kill two birds with one stone and carry on writing here, (hoping for some feedback even though its meant be free writing!) It carries on with the theme of this blog though as the characters and events that I plan to write about will be drawn from people I have met and experiences I have had or heard about!
SO to those who are taking part Happy Writing!
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November 2nd 2006 @ 09:39

Posted By: Ash - Category: No Category
   


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